The dangerous dozen: gangs considered the greatest threat to the state prison system

There are thousands of gangs in Texas, but only a dozen are considered such a threat to this state’s prison system that all members, regardless of their crimes. are required to serve all their time isolated in one-man cells for 23 or more hours a day.

Unlike other prisoners, they are not allowed to walk the yard or even have a prison job picking cotton or vegetables. They are locked down nearly around the clock, aside from when they are in some instances escorted alone to a larger cage for recreation or showering.

It is just about the toughest way to do time, but the state considers them too organized, too predatory and too dangerous to other inmates as well as prison staff to even permit them among a prison’s general population.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice calls them Security Threat Groups. The gangs are listed in alphabetical order in the slideshow above.